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Likes and Dislikes about Being a Market Researcher

When asked what they like about working in marketing research, more people mentioned the variety of work, like taking part in different projects and learning about new topics every week. They also find it interesting analyzing a company’s business and identifying trends in what people are doing.

“People” was the most mentioned word not in the question itself (used by 11% of respondents), and two broad themes emerged, both of which are encapsulated in this quote: “I get to talk to people and understand behavior.”

Understanding people

“I love finding trends in what people are doing or reacting to. I love that it involves an element of psychology.”

“Actually pulling the research and learning about what people think and like.”

“Gives a big knowledge about people’s behavior.”

Talking with people

“It’s thrilling and you get to meet and liaise with new people every day.”

“I speak with people from all around the world on a daily basis.”

“I like to interact with people and it’s good to get out into the open air.”

Another common theme was variety (“different”, mentioned by 10% of respondents): the variety of tasks, projects, and organizations.

“Every day is different.”

“Working on different things each week. Being able to see your research coming to fruition when working on products or advertising.”

“The variety of work, working with different clients.”

“Always something different.”

“I get to be involved with many different organizations.”

Researchers are enamored with “learn” (9% of respondents):

“I enjoy learning about new advances in healthcare (which is my market research focus), and analyzing data to come up with conclusions.”

“Learning new skills all the time.”

“It’s an awesome job and I learn new things every day.”

“You are always learning new things in every sector. You learn how to face problems and how to solve them in the best possible way. It’s very interesting and challenging.”

“It is a very interesting science. I like studying my company’s business and learn how it works so at some point I can get to a similar point as a successful company with my own company.”

Another common theme was “interesting,” mentioned by 8% of respondents.

“Interesting concepts.”

“It is interesting and useful for me as it allows me to improve my personal and professional skills.”

“Variety, interesting to see how consumers think.”

7% of respondents referenced “product”:

“Discovering what products are made of, whether they are healthy, watching the public’s reaction to them.”

“It gives a broad idea about customer need and how they react to certain products.”

“Finding out who has top sales, what the hot products are, what motivates buyers, attending conferences, taking courses, speaking with others in same field.”

Another common theme was “fun”, mentioned by 5% of respondents.

“Easy, fun, room to grow.”

“It fun and you can learn a lot from it.”

“It is very fun and rewarding.”

“Fun work.”

Many respondents found “nothing” to be unlikable (9% of respondents):

“Nothing honestly.”

“There is nothing to dislike about this job.”

While 11% cited people as something they like about the industry, 7% referenced “people” as a dislike:

“Baiting people to participate when they would rather not, seeing people participate multiple times for extra incentive.”

“Sometimes some people are rude.”

“Sometimes contacting the correct people proves to be difficult.”

“Some people aren’t the nicest.”

“The ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ type of people.”

“People not liking my ideas.”

Researchers complained about different aspects related to “time” (6% of respondents):

“The timelines can be brutal, and there is a small percentage of clients who are nuts.”

“Long project timeframes.”

“It can be very time consuming.”

“The time.”

“Not full time.”

Another common theme was “Hard,” mentioned by 6% of respondents.

“Can be hard.”

“It is a lot of hard work.”

“It can be highly stressful and hard.”

“The job is hard if you work on your own.”

“Lack” caught people’s attention (4% of respondents):

“I find a lot of the work shallow and lacking real meaning – the contributions I am making don’t feel worthwhile.”

“Sometimes a lack of work.”

“Lack of variety in some cases.”

“The lack of consistency between sites and providers.”

A common theme was “Hours”, mentioned by 4% of respondents.

“The hours vary depending on the amount of work we have. Dealing with irate respondents.”

“I dislike my hours.”

“It can be tedious and long hours.”

“Long hours you have to put in.”

“Lack of steady hours.”

Surprisingly, for a career satisfaction study, few respondents volunteered “pay” as a negative (4% of respondents):